This project will compare the effectiveness of three Community Mental Health Centers in minimizing hospitalization and restrictiveness of care for the chronic mentally ill. Method-development work is focussed on measurement procedures that could be used in comparative studies of catchmented mental health systems. These procedures include assessment of the size and prognosis of the known target population of chronic mentally ill in each catchment area; and the nature, evolution, and cost of actual implemented services that are available to the chronic mentally ill as a part of the public mental health treatment system in each catchment area. Data from the study will also be used to construct a theory of the life course and community treatment of the chronic mentally ill, using computer simulation to examine the properties of the theory.